1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus for an automatic stop of an engine, and in particular, to the automatic stop control apparatus that automatically stops an on-board engine mounted in a vehicle if a predetermined stop condition is satisfied, the stop condition including a condition that a running speed of the vehicle is a prescribed speed or less.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, so called an “idle stop control” is known to automatically stop an engine if a predetermined stop condition is satisfied, and subsequently to automatically restart the engine if a predetermined restart condition is satisfied. This control can improve fuel saving benefit of the engine.
However, if the automatic stop time of the engine due to the idle stop control is short, the fuel saving benefit may be degraded.
A technique for solving the above problem is known to prohibit only automatic stop operation in a predetermined time immediately after the engine is restarted, as disclosed in e.g., Japanese Patent laid-open Publication No. 06-200791. Specifically, the above predetermined time during which automatic stop operation is prohibited immediately after the restart of the engine is changed based on the number of previous automatic stops of the engine. This can reduce the automatic stop of the engine in a situation in which the automatic stop time of the engine may become short because, e.g., automatic stop and restart of the engine are repeated in a short period of time, thereby reducing degradation of the fuel saving benefit.
However, the above technique cannot allow the engine to automatically stop after properly recognizing whether or not there is a situation in which automatic stop time becomes short. For example, despite a situation in which sufficient automatic stop time of the engine can be secured, the engine cannot be automatically stopped. In this case, the fuel saving benefit may be degraded.